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A futon worthy of Otaka's band, Futon Logic. Phote by Shiro Kazan.
A futon worthy of Otaka's band, Futon Logic. Phote by Shiro Kazan.
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RADIO // Our Correspondents: Tokyo
Wakamatsu Masadayu and Shizuru Otaka
Plan B is an artist-run performance space in Tokyo founded in 1981. Wakamatsu Masadayu extends a medieval oral tradition developed by traveling musicians with story-songs that can last up to six hours. This is an excerpt. Also on the program is Shizuru Otaka, a classically trained singer who also enjoys a career in commercial pop, with several hundred recordings to her credit, a band called Futon Logic, and a very particular way with every kind of song, in Japanese and English.
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RADIO // Our Correspondents: Tokyo
Ryuichi Ohata & Kazumi Nikaido
Hosted by Kazue Kobata
Radio show

From her series of live concerts recorded at the artist-run Plan B in Tokyo, Kazue Kobata presents Ryuichi Ohata and Kazumi Nikaido, two guitar-singing singer-songwriters on the rise.

From her series of live concerts recorded at the artist-run Plan B in Tokyo, Kazue Kobata presents Ryuichi Ohata and Kazumi Nikaido, two guitar-singing singer-songwriters on the rise.

Originally aired 10/20/11
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RADIO // Our Correspondents: Tokyo
Tristan Honzinger, Shuichi Chino, and Ryuichi Daijo
Hosted by Kazue Kobata
Radio show

Kazue Kobata, Tokyo Correspondent, hosts as Tristan Honzinger, Shuichi Chino, and Ryuichi Daijo join forces for the second time in a two hour concert at Tokyo's Plan B. This infinitely complicated gig requires listeners' full attention.

Kazue Kobata hosts this segment of Our Correspondents: Tokyo. Two years after their show Improv Vets and Novitiates Musicians, Tristan Honzinger (cello), Shuichi Chino (piano), and Ryuichi Daijo (guitar) joined forces for the second time in a two...

Originally aired 2/4/08
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RADIO // Our Correspondents: Tokyo
Music as Sensual Tie, Pt. 3 (Dead Man)
Hosted by Kazue Kobata
Radio show

Ryuichi Daijo plays selections from the Neil Young soundtrack for Jim Jarmusch's film, Dead Man (1996). Sit back and listen to one of Ryuichi's favorites.

Guitarist Ryuichi Daijo plays selections from the Neil Young soundtrack for Jim Jarmusch's film, Dead Man (1996). Young primarily focuses on electric guitar using the occasional assistance of acoustic guitar, piano, and organ, creating an ambient...

Originally aired 7/3/06
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RADIO // Our Correspondents: Tokyo
Keiji Haino
Hosted by Kazue Kobata
Radio show

Japan's rocker/free improv master musician appears here in 2005 with an ad-hoc group, Mitochondria Quartet, featuring four young musicians on strings. Haino is known for being omnivorous in terms of the instruments he plays and collects.

Japan's rocker/free improv master musician (since 1970s) Keiji Haino appears here in 2005 with an ad-hoc group, Mitochondria Quartet, with four young musicians on strings. Haino is known for being omnivorous in terms of the instruments he plays and...

Originally aired 12/26/05
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RADIO // Our Correspondents: Tokyo
Improv Vets and Novitiates
Hosted by Kazue Kobata
Radio show

A private music session at a quaint local club in downtown Tokyo, with American cellist, Tristan Honsinger, pianist Shuichi Chino, and guitarist Ryuichi Daijo. The aim was to set up an interface between vets and novitiates of freely improvised music.

A private session for WPS1: Innovative composer/performer and maker of avant garde opera Tristan Honsinger, a cellist born in USA but more active in Europe, was on tour in Japan in September 2005. Kazue Kobata, WPS1 Tokyo Correspondent, happens to...

Originally aired 12/12/05
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RADIO // Our Correspondents: Tokyo
Music as Sensual Tie, Pt. 2 (Curio or Virtuoso)
Hosted by Kazue Kobata
Radio show

Japanese guitarist, musician and engineer Ryuichi Daijo introduces The Shaggs and Starfuckers with an undermined hypothesis that the two groups have an enigmatic commonness... light-hearted but uniquely enjoyable sounds.

Japanese guitarist, musician and engineer Ryuichi Daijo introduces The Shaggs (USA) and Starfuckers (Italy) with an undermined hypothesis that the two groups have an enigmatic commonness - well-prepared or not, well-trained or not, you may observe...

Originally aired 11/14/05
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RADIO // Our Correspondents: Tokyo
Yokohama Trienniale 2005
Hosted by Alanna Heiss
Radio show

A special program on the Yokohama Triennale 2005 (Oct. 28-Dec. 18) with its theme of Art Circus and action program Jumping from the Ordinary.

A special program on the Yokohama Triennale 2005 (Oct. 28-Dec. 18) with its theme of Art Circus and action program Jumping from the Ordinary. The program's special reporter is Alanna Heiss, Director of the Clocktower Gallery,...

Originally aired 10/31/05
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RADIO // Our Correspondents: Tokyo
Music as Sensual Tie, Pt. 1 (Violeta Parra)
Hosted by Kazue Kobata
Radio show

Ryuichi Daijo introduces a Chilean folklore guitarist/composer Violeta Parra (1917-1967), who composed and played music derived from her love for folklore. Parra also began weaving and painting late in life in a fantastical, surrealistic style.

Narrator and guitarist Ryuichi Daijo introduces his three part series Sensual Tie with a segement honoring Chilean folklore guitarist/composer Violeta Parra (1917-1967), who composed and played music derived from her love for folklore. Daijo...

Originally aired 2/21/05
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RADIO // Our Correspondents: Tokyo
Tuvan Throat-Singing
Hosted by Kazue Kobata
Radio show

Kazue Kobata encounters two representatives of Tuvan throat-singing, Japanese-style. This particular type of throat singing is called homei, a variation used mostly for the performance of epic poetry, and is accompanied by a type of Mongolian harp.

Kazue Kobata encounters two representatives of Tuvan throat-singing, Japanese-style. This particular type of throat singing is called homei, a variation used mostly for the performance of epic poetry. The sound is primitive, with no mystical roots...

Originally aired 5/31/04
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Our Correspondents: Tokyo